Tag: Route

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Riding

Scottish Route: Bridge of Allan, Fort William, Aberfeldy Loop

There are many great roads up into the Scottish Highlands, but planning a manageable loop from the Central Belt that fits into a day is harder than you first think. The landscape and mountains force you to follow a limited set of main arterial roads that are full of slow tourists and camper vans. Many quiet side roads I’d normally try to opt for simply come to a dead end up long valleys. As such, you’re forced into either shorter loops through some of the low lands, or very long loops North around huge mountain ranges.

This route is a loop North from Bridge of Allan to Fort William and back via Aberfeldy and is on the longer side at ~220 miles but is a great loop you can fit into a day. Albeit a longish day with about 5-6 hours of saddle time, plus stops.

The first leg takes us up through Callandar and Cranlarich to a pitstop at The Green Welly Stop in Tyndrum. The section of the A84 & A85 from Callander to Mid Lix is a great set of twisty roads skirting the side of Loch Lubnaig and then climbing up to Glen Ogle Viaduct. It can get busy with tourists peek season and the A84 is often policed, so take it steady. The A85 from Mid Lix to Tyndrum is all average speed cams, not particularly exciting, so just sit back and enjoy the scenery of Ben More, they’ll be time for more progressive riding further on.

The Green Welly Stop, Tyndrum
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Riding

Short Motorcycle Route from Stirling to Kinross and Queensferry

Here’s a short little motorcycle ride-out route for you. Perfect for when you’ve just got a couple of hours to kill or an evening ride once the nights get shorter.


We start off from the Wallace Monument in Stirling, a lovely place for a walk and a great view out over Stirling and Bridge of Allan all the way out Ben Lomond and Ben Vorlich near Lochearnhead. There’s a decent cafe here, so you can get your espresso shots in before you set off!

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Riding

Best Motorcycle Roads Essex has for a Ride Out

Best motorcycle roads Essex, Thaxted

Being based in East London, Essex is right on my doorstep and where I head for the majority of my ride outs. Essex may not have epic hills and deep valleys, but it offers many great twisty roads, rolling farmland, postcard villages of thatched cottages and some great coastlines to explore. Here I have rounded up some of the best motorcycle roads Essex has to offer, from the infamous Burnham Bends, the Clacton coast and of course the biker Mecca that is Finchingfield. You will not be disappointed by these routes:

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Riding

Ultimate Guide to Route Optimisation in 2020

When your riders have hundreds, if not thousands, of destinations or clients to visit, planning routes manually is a time-intensive and inefficient solution.

In many industries, driver wages and fuel costs alone make up 59.8% of the total operational cost per mile. So even small improvements to your driver’s routes can not only help you deliver packages or serve your clients faster, but can have a significant impact on your profit margin

With proper route optimisation tools, your business could save up to 20% in mileage and improve your order capacity by as much as 100% without increasing your fleet.

In this guide, we’ll give you a complete breakdown of what route optimization is and how it can benefit your business. We’ll examine real-world examples and provide use-cases for your industry.

We have a lot to cover, so let’s get started.

What is Route Optimisation?

Route optimisation is the process of improving routes and schedules for any type of delivery or service call. It helps businesses maximize completed orders while keeping the number of riders and bikes to a minimum.

Route Optimisation Phone AppRoute optimization is relevant to your company, whether you offer direct-to-consumer deliveries, business-to-business despatching or are in a service industry where your technicians visit client homes or businesses.

Routing your riders and technicians can be a costly and frustrating process, but with the right tool it can be automated — saving you time, money, and improving customer satisfaction.

Let’s get into it!

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Riding

Mid Wales Motorcycle Ride Out – The Abergwesyn Pass

Wales Motorcycle Ride, Powys
Welcome to Wales, Powys

This is a route I rode in May 2019, back then I could not have imagined what is happening now one year on. I find myself now looking back at the freedom we had to ride where ever we liked. Enjoy my reminiscing and stick this route on your to-do list for when lockdown restrictions are eased.

This route offers a short loop taking in some of the best roads Wales can offer, beginning and finishing in Newtown (because I was staying with family in Welshpool, the next town north, and using this as my base). All in its about 130 miles and about 3.5 – 4 hours of riding time, factor in a couple of coffee and food stops and you have a chilled out day on the bike.

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Riding

Scotland West Coast Motorcycle Road Trip with Mapped/FA

Scotland motorcycle tour with Blake, Mapped/FA
Blake, Mapped/FA

I think I’m almost as passionate about Scotland as I am about motorcycles, scotch and good coffee (which means it’s significant). My first Scotland motorcycle tour was back in 2017 for our NC500 Adventure. I fell in love with the scenery, the roads and the people. I knew I would be heading back.

In August 2019 I set off on tour to explore the West Coast of Scotland by motorcycle and, more importantly, the Isle of Mull and the Isle of Skye. I decided to call this adventure the “Western Isles Tour”. Now, I must put my hand up and admit that I have made a mistake. I have been advised by several followers that the Isle of Mull and Skye are not part of the Western Isles. Please accept my apologies for this error! (But to me, Mull and Skye were the Western Isles, for this adventure at least!)

The tour itself took place over five days and was designed to take in key parts of the Scottish Highlands, the West coast as well as the Isles of Mull and Skye. In total, the adventure covered over 1,300 miles, starting and ending in Manchester. AKA Team Mapped Base Camp. Although, the true start point is Loch Lomond.

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Featured Riding

Adventures Down Under, Motorcycle Rental MT09 in Brisbane, Part 2

Yamaha MT09 Brisbane Bunya Mountain

Continuing my Brisbane motorcycle rental adventure on a Yamaha MT09, for my second day I followed a route loosely based on this Rent This Bike blog post, an epic loop heading North West of Brisbane around lake Wivenhoe, taking in Mount Glorious, then North West over to Kingaroy, through Bunya Mountain and then back via Cooyar, Crows Nest and Esk. A substantial ride to do in one day at around 535 km, which left me minimal time to stop and explore along the route, before riding back into Brisbane after dark due to the early autumn nights. Definitely get out on the road early or consider stopping the night halfway for a more leisurely cruise.

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Riding

Adventures Down Under, Motorcycle Rental MT09 in Brisbane, Part 1

So when my boss turned around and asked if I could join him on a sales trip to a prospective customer in Brisbane Australia, I of course jumped at the opportunity. Sure, there was quite a lot of technical prep work setting up demo systems for presentations, the arduous sales meeting itself and the long flights (not business class sadly). But it did afford me a chance to grab a couple of free days to rent a motorcycle in Brisbane and explore some of Australia’s beautiful East Coast. Being my first visit to Australia, I was keen to see as much of it as I could cram into my time there.

Rent a motorcycle in Brisbane, AustraliaBrisbane Motorcycle Rental

For motorcycle rental, a quick Google revealed Eagle Rider had a shop in Brisbane, certainly tempting having rented from them previously in Sam Francisco. However, I also found the smaller local firm Rent This Bike, with a good choice of bikes and very competitive pricing. They were also more flexible on return times, affording me two full days of riding. I only had a Friday and Saturday free time and EagleRider close at 3 pm on Saturdays, whereas Rent This Bike was happy to accommodate pick up and drop-offs from 7 am to 7 pm any day.

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Riding

Best San Francisco Motorcycle Routes in the Bay Area

San Francisco motorcycle rental - Harley Davidson Road King
Rented Harley Davidson Road King

Over the past few years, I’ve made a number of trips to the Bay Area, hiring a number of bikes from San Francisco motorcycle rental firms and explored many great routes and locations. Here I have rounded up a list of the best San Francisco motorcycle roads I’ve enjoyed ready for you to download and check out if you’re in the area.

  1. Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz
  2. Palo Alto to Soquel (Santa Cruz)
  3. San Jose to Fremont (the long way around)
  4. San Francisco to Port Costa
  5. San Francisco’s best Tourist Spots
  6. San Fran, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe Loop

These routes are all hosted on MyRouteApp, a great app for planning and sharing routes from which you can download the routes in many different formats. Or export them directly to your SatNav via the MyRouteApp Windows or Mac connector app.

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Riding

Motorcycle Routes – Essex Ride Out Loop

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to lead a ride for the ELAM group. A bit of a double edged sword, a great chance to pick a route via my favourite motorcycle routes Essex has, but also somewhat nerve wracking – you don’t want to miss a turning, lose anyone and so on. For the ride I choose a popular Essex loop, starting in Harlow, then taking in Finchingfield, Halstead, Mersea Island, Maldon, Burnham-on-Crouch then returning to Harlow.

Motorcycle Routes – Essex Loop Part 1

Motorcycle routes Essex - Finchingfield
Bikes on show at Finchingfield

The first leg starts at Harlow McD’s just off M11 Junction 7, takes a number of rural and twisty roads up through Ongar, Hatfield Heath, Stanstead airport, Thaxted and then Finchingfield. These back roads twist and turn and are great to throw your bike left then right, and almost all have great condition tarmac. Definitely some of the best motorcycle roads Essex has to offer. With the weather warming up a much needed ice cream was had in Finchingfield as we checked out all the bikes on show.

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